Write a story that takes place across ten seconds.

Posted in Kids on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 257 stories

“Kindergarten” by Scout Tahoe

🏆 Winner of Contest #74

I’ll be on the train. It’ll be an underground train, like the subway, but in an airport. One door is both the exit and entrance with a few people trickling in and out. The train’s name will be Bart and my father will have warned me about it. The train will have pastel colors of gum, crafted into inappropriate pictures of body parts and messages in another language. I’ll know that if I was in another world I’d call it art and take a photo to show my kids. I’ll be standing. Sucking on a mint and molding it to the shape of my tong...

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“Game Over” by Writer Maniac

Submitted to Contest #74

Trigger warning: Death They took off my ventilator. Ten seconds left. Before I lose. Ten. I stayed at home. I washed my hands. I wore a mask the rare times I went outside. I adapted to the online classes, the Zoom birthday parties and the occasional awkward family group call. I texted till my thumbs were sore and watched television till my eyes were red. Nine.I did it all. I tried. But it wasn’t enough. Clearly. The people who did nothing to save themselves were saved. I did everything to save myself. But it caught up to me. I ran until my l...

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“Where Our Wishes Landed” by Aaron Caicedo

Submitted to Contest #74

I’m not sure what I’m supposed to say. I mean, I know what I’m supposed to say, what my “line” is: “I do.” A couple vowels and a click of the tongue; two little words, that’s it. Pretty simple, really. But despite their tiny appearances, the words must be much larger than they seem on paper; they’re currently wedged in my throat, and I can’t quite get them past my tongue.I’d ask you what’s wrong with me, why I’m suddenly so incapable of uttering such a minuscule phrase, but that would also involve the use of my vocal cords, so I suppose I’m ...

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“The Coldness of Sand” by Deidra Whitt Lovegren

Submitted to Contest #74

3.1688739 x 10^-10 MilleniaIn ten seconds you will break my heart. In a thousand years, I will never recover from the words that will come out of your mouth, from this serious conversation you want so desperately to have, from your dead shark eyes that fail to hold my gaze. I will get up from this moderately priced seafood restaurant’s table, fully understanding that our relationship is, indeed, over. Like preparing a fish for a feast, your words will cleanly gut me. And at this point, I seriously doubt my legs will support me. As if al...

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“Bombs Away” by Nainika Gupta

Submitted to Contest #74

I stare in horror at the smirking face of Albert Grindstaff, the purveyor of death and horror, not the sanitized version of television screens, but the real genocides, the killing of entire families, smirked at me, scarlet blood blossoming over his heart from the bullet I just shot into his chest. There is a dead quality to his eyes as if the soul had long departed and left this zombie-man in his stead, a monster to do the bidding of the dark force. All he cared for were his luxuries and the dirty money that floated in electronic nothingness...

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“Ten Seconds 'Till Death” by Kate Reynolds

Submitted to Contest #74

I’ve heard about someone’s life flashing in front of their eyes before they die. But mine was more of a movie. An old-fashioned movie. The scenes of my life slowly unfolded, shifting from one to the other on a tape. I could almost hear the clicking sound of the transitions. And somehow, I knew that I had ten seconds before the car would hit me, therefore killing me. And then the movie started.10 secondsI was the stereotypical “nerd” in middle school: I always had my nose in a book. I loved reading, it gave me an excuse to escape the real wor...

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“Countdown!” by ✯𝐋𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚 𝐋𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫✯

Submitted to Contest #74

Title: Countdown! Author: Haripriya Author's Note: Hello everyone! I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!! 10: I carefully bite the humongous popcorn kernel I accidentally got, as I foraged through the entire jar. I look down at my buttery popcorn and look at mom, who looks at dad, who looks at my little brother, who looks at his toy. Everyone's glare is now back at the flat screen T.V. I too eagerly look at the T.V and back at my popcorn, trying to find a bigger piece than the one I just found. The house is filled ...

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“Heart to Beat” by Rayhan Hidayat

Submitted to Contest #74

As soon as her eyes snap open to a dark ceiling and her body registers the sense of unease, she knows the Dream has begun.She climbs off the mattress and slides the bedroom door open to reveal a short stretch of hallway, dimly-lit; at the end of it is a staircase descending into the light. Any time now, the seconds will start to tick down.And I’ll only have ten.It’s a small house, and from her vantage point she takes in the sight of the open kitchen by the front hall, the only light source at this hour—unfinished dishes half-drowning in soap...

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“New Year, New beginnings” by 🕊 🎀 𝒱𝒶𝓇𝓈𝒽𝒶 𝒱𝒾𝓂𝒶𝓁 🎀 🕊

Submitted to Contest #74

“10!” We screamed at the top of our lungs, I almost gagged at the noise pollution we’d created. Sythe winked, smiling as she showed her perfect set of teeth she’d take care of every day. I was so glad that she decided to join my family for our annual New years party. I rolled my eyes at her. She was such a show-off. We met as rivals actually. Sythe had hated my guts since she laid eyes on me, she was the most popular girl at Sunnydale middle school. She practically owned it. On the first day I bumped into her during our only shared class: Ar...

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“Together Again” by Lilliane Wei

Submitted to Contest #74

Lauren didn’t believe in true love and fairy dust and happily ever after’s. At least not anymore. She was older now, wiser, and she knew that everything didn’t magically fall into place, that miracles were mere coincidences raised to fame. That's when a ghost from her past walked back into her life. “Lor?” That one word glued Lauren to her seat, effectively rendering her frozen in place. Her breath caught in her throat. Maybe it was terror that kept her in place, maybe surprise, maybe excitement. Or perhaps a combination of all three.&...

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“The People in the Windows” by A.R. Eakle

Submitted to Contest #74

He’s only about fifteen yards away from us, this madman with a gun and two children standing in front of him like pawns on a chess board. The pavement is new beneath his feet and the painted lines, the pavement markers, they’re crisp and bright. There’s ten of us and only one of him and only two children. I can feel my heart beat in my throat, each pulse gagging me, punching on my uvula. I can barely hear my sergeant yelling commands like, “Drop the gun,” and, “Nobody has to get hurt,” and other things that I can’t hear over the throbbing of...

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“10 seconds.” by 𝚋𝚕𝚞𝚎 𝚐𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚎𝚝💙

Submitted to Contest #74

10 seconds that’s all we had to get out. The call came from nowhere telling everyone that there had been a bomb planted inside of the school.It was a normal day. I woke up around 8 in the morning. I had two classes in the morning one began at 9 and the other at 10:45. My roommate made the small apartment we had lived in smell like a 5-star cafe once again. This morning she made waffles with blueberries, powdered sugar, and some syrup. Everything looked so perfect as it always did. I washed down the meal with some orange juice we had in the f...

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“Ten Seconds of Jessamine” by Maya W.

Submitted to Contest #74

***Trigger warning for death***“This winter sky - how can anyone sleep? There was never such a night before! I feel like putting my arms around my knees and squeezing tight as possible, and flying away. Oh the moon! Oh the snow in the moonlight! And your childlike eyes and your distant smile, I will never be this happy again. You and I, you and I, you and I, and no one else. Maybe he came today - maybe he came already. Maybe he’s sitting in the drawing room, and I simply forgot.”It takes just ten seconds to watch a star fall, but it’s still ...

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“A Princess” by Julie Ward

Submitted to Contest #74

Laura stood on one end of the park, a tiny speck in a sea of people. She kicked the lock on her stroller and held tightly to her daughter's hand. Brightly colored banners fluttered in the breeze. Tables manned by an army of moms offered carnival games, cotton candy and a tantalizing array of prizes. The annual school fair was the biggest fundraiser of the year and Cameron had begged to go all morning. “Please mom, please!" He’d pulled out all the four-year old stops. “All my friends will be there. Spider Man too! And princesses for...

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“'Ding, Dong, The Year Is Dead!'” by Gip Roberts

Submitted to Contest #74

Ten...Ten months ago, it was late in February, and early in 2020. It had started out a pretty normal year. In ten seconds, all the memories come flooding back. Pictures saved in the files of the mind. Remnants of festive wrapping paper still cluttering the carpet here and there. It had been a perfectly normal holiday season, and now the question: Will it ever get back to normal? You, like everyone else, has been asking this nearly all year long. As the last ten seconds of the undisputed worst year of your life disappear, one by one, into the...

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Won by Scout Tahoe 🏆

Title: Kindergarten

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Write a story that takes place across ten seconds.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 257 stories

“Kindergarten” by Scout Tahoe

“Game Over” by Writer Maniac

“Where Our Wishes Landed” by Aaron Caicedo

“The Coldness of Sand” by Deidra Whitt Lovegren

“Bombs Away” by Nainika Gupta

“Ten Seconds 'Till Death” by Kate Reynolds

“Countdown!” by ✯𝐋𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚 𝐋𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫✯

“Heart to Beat” by Rayhan Hidayat

“New Year, New beginnings” by 🕊 🎀 𝒱𝒶𝓇𝓈𝒽𝒶 𝒱𝒾𝓂𝒶𝓁 🎀 🕊

“Together Again” by Lilliane Wei

“The People in the Windows” by A.R. Eakle

“10 seconds.” by 𝚋𝚕𝚞𝚎 𝚐𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚎𝚝💙

“Ten Seconds of Jessamine” by Maya W.

“A Princess” by Julie Ward

“'Ding, Dong, The Year Is Dead!'” by Gip Roberts

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about someone scrambling to finish a goal in the last few hours of the year.

Write about someone keeping track of time with tally marks on a wall — until one day they discover that all the marks are gone.

Write a story that takes place across ten days.

Write a story in the form of a top-ten list.

Contest #74

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

728

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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